Tag Archives: Horizons

January 8, 2026 · 20:37

Our lull moments

That happens, we all crave it, the option of bliss, inactivity, moments of calmness and we find it in different ways. I for one have this with a video game. Not some edge of seat Epic setting, but the Horizon setting, Skyrim, Oblivion, fall out, the list goes on. And yesterday I saw a list of two dozen games coming to the PS5 and some woke me up. There was off course Wolverine by Insomniac. I will be waiting for that one, but at that point one game turned up that I never expected The game STYX has as far as I know been a Xbox game and it is a excellent game, Stealth of the better variety. And you better rely on stealth as you are a 4’ goblin with his trusty knife. What drove me to this game that any level had several solution to solving it and you got points for completing other ways. It was a lovely time. Now its coming to Sony Playstation and we can rejoice. More important there are a few other settings we could consider. One of them is RYSE, son of Rome. The good parts is that the graphics were really good and the storyline was amazing. The two downsides were in the first was that all combat is massively repetitive. And the second one was that you had too defeat several bosses twice, after the first time he completely reset his health bar. I don’t like this, but that might just be me. So as I see it, when you redo the battle setting of Marius Titus you might have an amazing Playstation winner. So when we consider the funny part, who thought that Frankfurt had more to offer than Frankfurters? Crytek GmbH might be the next great thing coming from Germany, go that is an exaggeration, but the truth is that RYSE might have dies too soon and too small a death, so whilst some might object as it was released 12 years ago, I say ‘be still’ good games overcome systems and generations (example Mass Effect and Oblivion) and those are merely two who made the system generation jump. I think that Ryse could do the same (if the two weaknesses are dealt with) As far as I see it, everyone is looking at what might be (I do that too at times) but at times I look behind me what we left and there is plenty to be had in that direction too. I gave some of this ‘life’ in an IP solution I offered to Saudi Arabia and I still believe it can work, not merely for the games, but for the two sides of that equation that could propels Saudi Arabia’s gaming and other settings a lot further. Don’t be miffed Amazon got the same option, but they decided to ignore this whilst they are banking on AI (good luck with that).

So whilst we were given ‘Amazon Pulls AI-Powered Fallout Recap After Getting Key Story Details Wrong’ which comes with “According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Amazon is betting AI can identify key plot points for a series to be synchronized with a voiceover narration and dialogue snippets.”” Apart from the settings that are incorrect and incomplete. Amazon needs to realise that this is all programmed and the programmer might not see what needs validating and verification. They might not know, but the fans will pick up on this instantly. And Engadget gives us ‘Amazon’s AI-generated recap tool didn’t watch Fallout very closely’ this relates to games, because when these people get the AI part ‘working’ they will go over games in that same way and that is where the blunders start adding up to the folly of people who blindly believe in AI. Because I mentioned once that 2026 will be the setting of AI court cases and I was proven (yet) again correct as we are given ‘CanLII and Caseway AI reportedly moving towards settlement in copyright dispute’ as well as TechCrunch given us 8 hours ago ‘Google and Character.AI negotiate first major settlements in teen chatbot death cases’ merely two cases in the second week on January. So, how many more will follow? Only seven hours ago we were given ‘Musk lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion can head to trial, US judge says’ and all this relates to games, because last November we were given ‘Ubisoft Reveals Teammates – An AI Experiment to Change the Game’ and I reckon it will merely take one slip up to thwart the statistics of a player and he will be crying in the lap of some ambulance chaser. A setting I saw coming a mile away which a few people have experienced if they are stealth players.

As such my lull moment gets blown away with some AI character, team mate or not. But that might merely be me, but what Ido remember was call on this setting months ago and now we see two being settled, whilst OpenAI is now entering the dock for what might cost them a pretty penny. Did those shareholders consider that this might become the destination of their investment?

Have a great day.

The preluding thought

This started a few hours ago. I was in a conversation when a thought occurred. The idea would have merit, but I was amazed that no one has acted on this, not in years. The first culprit would be Ubisoft. They are so caught up in what they perceive to be innovation that actual innovation passes them by. They might be the biggest one, but they are not alone. In less then an hour I had the setting maturing in my brain. So lets take a look

This is the selfie system. A gamer can upload a selfie into the gaming portal, from there it goes to a server side processing module and from there it goes into the game. We have all these photo options. Yet, I reckon that millions of gamers would want to see themselves in Whiterun, standing in front of a dead Thunderjaw, standing in Gotham, being in Cyberpunk and some of these games would allow you to buy the postcard in the game (in Cyberpunk) and that postcard of you in the City Center could be ‘mailed’ to your game account, downloaded and you could put it on your social media. The funny thing is that this approach was an option 10 years ago. There are of course the funny flaky moments (an 21st century image of you in 9th century Bagdad), you name it, there are options.

The server-side processing module would be the IP of the gaming company and it could be applied to EVERY game they want to, and that one server-side module would be applied to EVERY game, so one module only and as the stage evolves that module just gets better and better. The portal might alter per game and per console, but there are already options with Sony, Nintendo likely too. PC had these options decades ago. The portal is the only one that might need adjusting for every game, as such every game will have a portal part, but that is actually the smallest part of all.

What baffles me is that no one has put this in place. Perhaps there are reasons and I reckon that there would be a need to set the legal premise that every uploader is legally responsible for WHAT they upload. Yet I do believe that this is a minor adjustment. It also corroborates with a thought I had years ago. To upload your image so that the character you play represents you. Wouldn’t it be great if you are the photo mode? I know that this cannot be done with every game, but a Nord in Solitude that looks like you? Skyrim has sold 60 million copies, that implies that well over 30% would want this. That is almost 20 million social media posts and those on multiple channels will show it everywhere. So why has no one considered and acted on this?

I refuse to believe that I am the first one, but the lack of actions on the other side (game developers) seem to imply that no one has seriously looked at that part of gaming. You see games can only exist as they cater to the gamer, that much has been a fact for decades. So what gives?

I will let you ponder that, for me Monday is only 14 hours away, enjoy the day you have.

First of two issues

I had a rage attack today, it was right after some stupid set of saggy t*** decided to attack Elon Musk in a Presidential briefing. It feels like she is from Forbes. They have been pushing the Musk envelope. It is my personal belief that they are close friends with Jack Dorsey, a person they seemingly never asked any serious questions from and ‘the national security danger that is Saudi Arabia?’ Oh, I got her number and then some. But there is time for that and I have seen that death is not the worst a person can experience. It will be my delight to introduce that terror to her. But there is time for that and certain plays are not completed. But then something happened.

A tweet brought Me back to my senses. This lady is totally nuts about Elden Ring. I get that drive, that devotion, optionally that obsession. I do not agree with her, but that I her right. I did not play Elden ring. I could never finish BloodBorne. I still have it as it is one of the most beautiful games I have, next to Dark Souls 3, a game I equally never finished. Both utterly sublime, but in my lifetime I doubt I will ever finish that. Yet it was about her feeling. I thought I had the same with Horizons: Forbidden West. But then God of War: Ragnarok came. I am taking me time as every corner, every sight is a feast for the eyes. I lost a few lives, but that is OK. The game delivers again and again and the story is magnificent, as is the music. I do not believe that Guerrilla software has anything to fear. There is space to love control of both Kratos and Aloy. Two amazing pieces of faming IP, this was a good gaming year and I am not forgetting Gotham Knights. Three Amazing journeys. Yet at present I am knee deep in Asgardian folklore and epic myths and Santa Monica Studios deliver in ways you cannot believe (unless you are playing the game) it is good that in the twilight of my life I can still be amazed by games. I started gaming in 1984 and I never stopped. I might not have the drive I once had (like playing 167 levels of Loderunner on the CBM64 in one sitting). I did take a sickie for that event. It was a time when you could pause a game, but you could not save a game. Still, 38 years later and that gam is still part of me. Games evolved from CBM64 we got the CBM Amiga, then PC, then the PlayStation range one through five and gaming never disappointed. I might not like everything, but that is not required. There is space for the yearners of Elden Ring, the obsession with Quake, Halo and Bethesda games. It is an inclusive group, the more the merrier.

There is no hindsight, not a new piece of IP (other than the ones I already have). Many forget that gaming is not a business (to some it is), it is the ones that see games as art, those are the games that get the 90%+ reviews and Sony has a basket full of those, no matter how many ‘opponents’ troll rating into the basement. The gamers know what is what and they are driven to success. To achieve the end of the story. Anyone finishing Horizons Zero Dark can tell you about that. There is a need to finish the story and God of War: Ragnarok is no different. Do not worry, no spoilers here.

Passing that line yourself is so fulfilling it gives value to a game and you will cherish EVERY dollar you spend on it. Today was a great day for gaming. I wonder if that is why I became angry at Forbes with its BS sense towards an owner and a partner who owns a mere 4% of Twitter. Which is interesting as the China hatred in the US does not give rise to the partnership that Microsoft and Tencent have, not even from Forbes, where is their national security interest there?

I am contemplating words I once got from Frank Herbert “He who can destroy a thing, can control a thing”, he published it in 1965, 57 years ago. Words to live by and I am feeling rebellious and frisky, a dangerous combination in someone with my mindset, but Forbes will soon learn that lesson. I’ll give fair warning a day after I have completed the exercise. Only fair, not?

Tag Archives: Horizons

Our lull moments

The preluding thought

First of two issues

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